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Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short.
Light, tight, and right TDS gathers the latest automotive news bubbling around the globe and places it in one spot. Stories are summarized in a single, sometime long, sentence accompanied by a link for those seeking more information.
It’s almost dinner time here in Japan and I’m reasonably wired up on coffee at the moment, so let’s get into it.
🚘 What I’m driving: Nothing, but I just rode a bullet train from Tokyo to Tochigi.
💰 The 2026 Cadillac Celestiq arrives with a large price increase translating to the EV going from $340,000 to now over $400,000 before customization, though previously optional equipment is now standard.
⛽️ Scout CEO Scott Keogh revealed the startup automaker, which is owned by Volkswagen, has 130,000 reservations, but over 80% of those are for the extended-range model with a gas engine; Keogh reconfirmed the Scout models will feature real buttons and knobs so controls aren’t eight layers into a touchscreen interface.
🪫 Kia delayed the EV4 for the U.S. “until further notice,” due to shifting marketing conditions.
⛰️ Hyundai revealed an “off-road ready” Ioniq 9 concept that will appear at the SEMA Show next week in Las Vegas, which could be a completely over-the-top version of what we might see with an XRT model in the near future.
🕵️♂️ The NHTSA is investigating 583,600 Hondas for safety issues including 142,600 2023-24 Honda Pilots for a possible malfunction of the rear seat seat belt warning system, and 441,000 2018-22 Honda Odysseys because the passenger side airbag might deploy unexpectedly while the vehicle’s in motion.
🔌 Volvo’s CEO now said the Swedish automaker will keep plug-in hybrids in its lineup until the end of the 2030s.
‼️ Ford has expanded it current recalls to over 400,000 vehicles for multiple issues including moonroof window deflectors that might fall off and bubbles in the windshield glass to a loose bolt on the driver’s seat frame or a defrosting and defogging issue.
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As Director of Content and Product, Joel draws on over 15 years of newsroom experience and inability to actually stop working to help ensure The Drive shapes the future of automotive media. He’s also a World Car Award juror.
